Radio orchestra

A radio orchestra (or broadcast orchestra) is a classical music orchestra employed by a radio network (and sometimes television networks) in order to provide programming as well as sometimes perform incidental or theme music for various shows on the network. In the heyday of radio such orchestras were numerous. However, in recent decades, broadcast orchestras have become increasingly rare.

Famous broadcast orchestras include the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937-1954) conducted by Arturo Toscanini, the BBC Symphony Orchestra founded in 1930, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra founded in 1949, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra founded in 1925, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra founded in 1969 and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio (formerly the USSR State Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra among other names) founded in 1930.

Germany has an especially large number of radio orchestras. Twelve radio orchestras perform and produce classical as well as contemporary music (North German Radio (NDR) with two orchestras in Hamburg an Hannover, West German Radio (WDR) with two orchestras in Cologne, Southwest German Radio (SWR) with two orchestras in Stuttgart and Baden-Baden/Freiburg, Bavarian Radio (BR) with two orchestras in Munich, Middle German Radio (MDR) with one orchestra in Leipzig, Saarland Radio (SR) with one (2006 merged) orchestra in Saarbrücken/Kaiserslautern, Hesse Radio (hr) with one orchestra in Frankfort/Main and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin.

The British Broadcasting Corporation operates five orchestras in total. The last surviving broadcast orchestra in North America is the CBC Radio Orchestra founded in 1938 but on March 28, 2008 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that the orchestra would be dissolved at the end of November.Lederman, Marsha, [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080327.worchestra0327/BNStory/Entertainment/home "CBC Radio Orchestra to be dismantled"] , "Globe and Mail", March 27, 2008]

The house band for the "Late Show with David Letterman" whimsically calls itself the CBS Orchestra though it is not a classical musical orchestra and does not perform on CBS outside of the "Late Show".

ee also

*List of radio orchestras

References